After a year of hard labor in the Salt Mines of Endovier, eighteen-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien has won the king's contest to become the new royal assassin. Yet Celaena is far from loyal to the crown – a secret she hides from even her most intimate confidantes.

Keeping up the deadly charade—while pretending to do the king's bidding—will test her in frightening new ways, especially when she's given a task that could jeopardize everything she's come to care for. And there are far more dangerous forces gathering on the horizon -- forces that threaten to destroy her entire world, and will surely force Celaena to make a choice.

Where do the assassin’s loyalties lie, and who is she most willing to fight for?

Review

What's higher than a five star Special Shelf rating?

That's what I gave Throne of Glass, but Crown of Midnight blows it out of the water.

Crown of Midnight takes everything in Throne of Glassand adds MORE. There's more character depth, more action, more relationship exploration, more intrigue, and more heartbreak (oh my gosh the HEARTBREAK).

The scope of the story explodes from the contained Throne of Glass setting revolving around the competition to a more sprawling, epic-fantasy style with all sorts of layers and hints for things to come (those witches!!!).

If Throne of Glass was like dipping my toe into still waters, Crown of Midnight was taking a running leap and cannonballing into Sarah J. Maas's imagination.

While I think Sarah J. Maas did a great job making Celaena more than a one-note character in Throne of Glass, Crown of Midnight deepens her characterization even further. The protective (but fun!) layers of arrogance are peeled back to reveal a girl with hopes, dreams, fears, insecurities, and hurts.

I ached for her. The best character I can compare her to now for sheer level of complexity and depth, fun and fluffy mixed with serious, is Buffy, and I can think of no higher praise than that. (Side note: If you haven't watched Buffy yet, go watch it!)

Crown of Midnight Celaena is just as kick-butt awesome as she was in Throne of Glass, but MORE. I knew she was this super badass assassin and she definitely had a few moments to show that off in Throne of Glass, but I always felt like she was holding back on me a little. And she was. So what happens when Celaena doesn't hold back?

Ho-le-COW.

I don't want to spoil one second of those scenes (and one in particular is a total re-read scene), but let's just say Celaena's arrogance over her abilities is downright HUMBLE.

But that re-read scene? Oh gosh, I can't even begin to talk about it. If you've read it, then YOU KNOW.

If you haven't read it, well, you're missing out. It was a powerhouse scene and I didn't know whether to cheer triumphantly, start punching people angrily, bask in the intrigue, fist pump the awesomeness, swoon uncontrollably, or SOB MY BLEEDING HEART OUT (x2).

So of course I did all of that, which is why Crown of Midnight comes with the Don't Read This in Public warning.

So what happens with the romance?

Throne of Glass had a love triangle I actually didn't hate, but Crown of Midnight makes it very clear early on who Celaena chooses. If you like the guy who *I* like and wanted her to end up with, then you'll be overjoyed with Crown of Midnight. Sarah J. Maas took my wildest dreams and gave me everything I wanted and more! The scene re-reading potential in this book is super high.

But... ok, I can't say anything more except that, but just know that the romance doesn't devlove into monotone sappiness that overwhelmes the book with boringnesss. Not at all. I laughed, I cried from pure happiness, I swooned, I raged, and I BAWLED. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

If you were rooting for the other side of the love triangle, sorry! But, unlike most losing sides of love triangles, this guy actually has a personality and plot all his own.

One of the strenghs of Throne of Glass was the super-developed side characters. I had strong feelings for each of them and they all seemed to have lives of their own (not just lives that revolve around the main character/plot point).

I was happy to see Kaltain return, and while her role is much smaller than in Throne of Glass, I have a feeling her parts are hinting toward something Significant in future books. Nehemia is also back, as is Fleetfoot and both are just as awesome as they were in Throne of Glass.

There are also a few new characters of which I have mixed feelings (as you're supposed to), but by far my favorite is the talking doorknob (who reminded me of a mix of Gwen's talking sword Vic from Mythos Academy and the general vibe of The Last Unicorn—two very good things).

And the plot?

I'm a sucker for sprawling epic fantasy plots that cover multiple realms, cultures, peoples, and, of course, feature lots of intrigue and layered history between them all.

Throne of Glass hinted at this broader world, but Crown of Midnight BROUGHT it. This series is now the type of story where I can settle in and get my geek on analyzing all the tiny details of the world and people and how they all fit together.

While you definitely have to read Throne of Glass before starting Crown of Midnight, I also highly, highly recommend reading the prequel novellas, too. At the very least, read them before reading Crown of Midnight. I don't think readers would be lost without this backstory knowledge, but it added a whole new layer of enjoyment for me in both the characterization and the plot.

As far as pacing goes, well, you know me, I consider anything over 300 pages a long book and this one weighs in at a hefty 432 pages. But it wasn't nearly enough. I kept making myself try to read slower so I could savour it. I would have happily read another 400+ pages and would probably still have wanted more.

I was totally invested in both the plot and the characters, so there was never a dull moment for me. There are quieter moments that focus on character and relationship building, but I was just as entralled by these scenes as I was by the heart-pounding action scenes (of which there were also a lot).

But the ending? I'm STILL struggling to know what to do with myself until the release of book three. It's such a cliffhanger! Plus, I'm so wrapped up in these characters and this world that it's just downright cruel to rip me away from them and make me wait for more.

Oh, and a warning? Sarah J. Maas is the best kind of cruel author because she kills her characters and rips my heart out. In the most gut-wrenching ways.

Bottom line

I've already re-read most of Crown of Midnight and Throne of Glass and the prequel novellas (and pre-ordered the print version of the prequel bindup!) and I would have read the bonus scenes but I'm saving them for when I desperately need another fix between publications. I'm holding myself over for now with the completely unrelated but still (co-) written by Sarah J. Maas Starkillers Cycle (which is awesome, by the way), but I'm dying for more Celeana now.

Sarah J. Maas is one of those rare Soul Twin authors who writes as if she has a line straight to my heart and she's giving me everything I've ever wanted in a book. Which is to say, she's an autobuy author for sure.

And, oh look, Crown of Midnight comes out today, so you know what that means? NO MORE WAITING!

5 comments:

I definitely need to page through the first book before reading this one. I remember liking it although it also took me awhile to warm up to it. I think I was happy with the guy she picked at the end of the book, but I can't remember for sure which one. Definitely need to re-read.

I wasn't very impressed with the first book so I have been avoiding this sequel except that I keep hearing how amazingly better it is and of course that hype drags me in. I'm currently undecided if I'll give it a try but I'm leaning toward doing so.

"when it dawned on me that she was the girl version of every male character I love," <-- This is so true. Well, at least the type of character that she is generally being associated with men in YA. Sometimes I wonder if I'm so generally not used to arrogance in female characters that that's why I had a problem with Celaena in the first novel.

"I ached for her. The best character I can compare her to now for sheer level of complexity and depth, fun and fluffy mixed with serious, is Buffy, and I can think of no higher praise than that. (Side note: If you haven't watched Buffy yet, go watch it!)" <-- I wish I could understand these comparisons O.o.

"I always felt like she was holding back on me a little. And she was. So what happens when Celaena doesn't hold back?" <-- Me too. Not just holding back on her skills but in regard to her secrets and the intrigue of her character. But that's the sign of a job done AWESOMELY.

"But that re-read scene? Oh gosh, I can't even begin to talk about it. If you've read it, then YOU KNOW." <-- AHHH I THINK I KNOW WHICH SCENE YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT BUT I AM NOT SURE. But I'm looking forward to looking through the book again to mark my fave passages :D.

"If you like the guy who *I* like and wanted her to end up with, then you'll be overjoyed with Crown of Midnight. Sarah J. Maas took my wildest dreams and gave me everything I wanted and more! The scene re-reading potential in this book is super high. " <-- Definitely, I know you aren't a big fan of my dog-earring passages, but that's what I'm going to do soon :D. But also, I heard that the person who was chosen in this book isn't the one who ends up with her in the end? That that's what had happened in the version that was on FP? Well, I'm hoping that that's changed like the other things that have...

"After reading Throne of Glass I had talked about how I hoped he would grow and develop into a character in his own right because I see more for him than getting relegated to third-wheel status." <-- True. I actually didn't like him at all in the first book, but this made me like him. So glad that he doesn't keep moping over her.

"I have a feeling her parts are hinting toward something Significant in future books." <-- Oh really? I always just assumed Kaltain was a throwaway character, but now you're making me wonder what'll happen to her o.O.

"I'm a sucker for sprawling epic fantasy plots that cover multiple realms, cultures, peoples, and, of course, feature lots of intrigue and layered history between them all." <-- Me too, and I love how that shows especially in the prequel novels. I love the world she's built.

"But the ending? I'm STILL struggling to know what to do with myself until the release of book three. It's such a cliffhanger!" <-- DID YOU KNOW THERE WILL BE SIX OR SEVEN BOOKS? Eeeh. I was thinking about how awesome the third book would be with all the plot threads from this one, but now I'm wondering how that will spread across all the other books o.O.

First, I want to echo my comment to Ruby and tell you that I read your posts in my email, but am lousy about commenting. :(

Okay, on to the review.

I finally got around to reading Throne of Glass this month. Unfortunately, I was not as into it as you were. I can see why it hit all your buttons, but I was pissed about who she was clearly going to wind up with as her love interest and I wanted to throw things and stomp around like a child. Now I know how everyone feels when they pick the wrong triangle side! Harumph.

I liked Celaena, but I LOVED Nehemia, so I'm glad to see she's back for part 2. And as much as Kaltain was annoying and awful, she got the short end of the traitor stick, so I kind of want to see more of her to see if she changes. She was certainly interesting.

My biggest problem with ToG was that it felt like two different books. We were promised one book in the setup, and once she got to the castle it became a different book, which I didn't like as much. I still enjoyed it, though, and will probably read CoM. I think the novellas look pretty good too. We'll see.